


Think Nothing Of It

by robotsdance



Category: Frasier (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, post-episode: It's Hard To Say Goodbye If You Won't Leave, season three
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 08:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18890491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotsdance/pseuds/robotsdance
Summary: Daphne must have fallen asleep on Dr. Crane’s shoulder somewhere near the end of Casablanca because that is where she stirs in the early hours of the morning.





	Think Nothing Of It

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my doc of Niles/Daphne scenes of general softness for ages and it doesn’t really fit with any of the stuff I’m tinkering with so here’s a little post-ep.

Daphne must have fallen asleep on Dr. Crane’s shoulder somewhere near the end of Casablanca because that is where she stirs in the early hours of the morning. His cardigan is soft and his shoulder is warm and the display on the VCR glows gently in the otherwise darkened room.

She blinks as she tries to further drag herself from sleep and take in her surroundings. Mr. Crane has already gone to bed but Eddie is still asleep on the couch with them, his head resting in Dr. Crane’s lap. Dr. Crane is very still, but when she lifts her head she feels him tense in reaction to her movement.

“What time is it?” she asks, her voice low from sleep as she pushes off him a little to sit up and yawn.

“Almost two,” he replies, his voice as soft and warm as his cardigan.

“You should have woken me,” she says, a little embarrassed, “I’m sure you have better things to do than act as my pillow half the night.”

“No,” he says, “I don’t.”

There’s a beat of silence between them that feels like a kind of truth and she remembers with a pang of empathy that he recently separated from his wife. She wants to say something reassuring to him but she’s not sure which way to go with it. Mrs. Crane has been a source of loneliness and misery for him for as long as she has known him, but he remains hopeful that they will be able to work things out between them. She wishes the best for him, she really does, but she can’t bring herself to say that she’s sure he and Mrs. Crane will patch things up soon. She wants him to be happy and as far as she has seen, Mrs. Crane has never made him happy. He deserves someone who treats him better than Mrs. Crane does, but that feels like the wrong thing to say right now.

Eddie wakes with a wide yawn and then bounds across both of them and jumps to the floor on his way to trot down the hall towards Mr. Crane’s room. The two of them watch Eddie until well after he’s out of sight.

“I should get going,” Dr. Crane says now that his departure won’t awaken anyone.

“It is getting late,” she agrees, “You’re welcome to stay if you’d like.”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to impose.”

He’s so desperately polite she thinks as he gathers the dishes from their movie snacks back onto the tray resting on the coffee table not wanting to impose even as he still has a small patch of her drool on his shoulder from when he sat perfectly still for hours so as not to disturb her.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll deal with that in the morning,” she tells him.

“Nonsense,” he says as he adds Mr. Crane’s empty beer can to the tray on his way to the kitchen.

He returns a moment later and gathers his coat. She walks with him to the door.

“Thank you for the lovely evening,” he says before he opens the door and turns back to look at her, “Goodnight Daphne.”

They linger for a moment, the light of the hallway spilling into the apartment and casting their shadows side by side across the hardwood floor.

“Goodnight Dr. Crane.”


End file.
